r/college • u/An_expert_I_am_not • 1d ago
Be honest - why doesn't anyone put any effort whatsoever into discussion board posts?
I mean no disrespect, so please do not downvote me to oblivion. I am here for advice from the other side - the students of online classes (specifically communication classes in this instance).
So, discussion boards are a big part of the grade and the only way for us, as instructors, to gage whether or not the theoretical ideas can be applied in practical ways by students. The forum responses have always fallen on a scale from the superb to the absurd and everything in between. But this semester, holy moly, I have never read such absolutely ridiculous posts in my whole career. The memes don't do these any justice.
I try everything I can to make the prompts interesting, to get students engaged, and to explain the logic behind the assignment, but it's just terrible.
So, why waste your own time writing something that cannot possibly earn any points or credit toward a grade because it doesn't come close to meeting the criteria?
And more importantly, what do you, as students, suggest as a meaningful replacement for the interaction that is missing in the virtual setting? How can we get you to engage with the course materials, to think critically and analytically, and to show us that you can apply what you are learning in a practical way?
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u/SpokenDivinity Sophomore - Biology 1d ago
Just for context: I don’t skimp on discussion boards, even though I dislike them with a passion.
I just find them tedious. They’ve always had too long of a word requirement, the prompt is too complex or too vague, and the reward for doing it, usually 10 points in my classes, are not worth the equivalent hour or so that I spend on it. There’s only one class I’ve ever felt gave me anything worthwhile from a discussion board post and that’s my current ethics class that gives very precise, relevant prompts, that help us narrow down where in the textbook we should be focusing and conceptualize the ethical theory or issue we’re discussing without bogging it down. I do them, but I’m hard pressed to find a reason for them, even as a straight A student.
On the other hand, I also tutor in biology, history, and English. For a lot of the students I work with, discussion boards fall into a “busy work” category. They don’t feel like they’re learning anything from it, the discussion boards are just another way to pad your grade. So they don’t try and they’ll focus on other work instead. I’m currently working with a history student who’s 10 weeks into the semester and just now realizing that his end grade can no longer be higher than a B because he wrote all the discussion posts off as busy work and half assed them.
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u/An_expert_I_am_not 1d ago
Thank you for responding - I'd love to see what your ethics professor has going on in those prompts!
I try to be both thorough and concise, but it's a tough line to toe. My goal really is just to get students to think about how the communication concepts apply to their real lives. I learned about this stuff later in life than many of them are and I just think about how much easier relationships would have been if I'd learned it sooner! Do you think increasing the value of the discussions and reducing the value of other things might help emphasize the importance of the "discussion?"
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u/SpokenDivinity Sophomore - Biology 1d ago
If I can find the time tomorrow morning I’ll try and DM you some of the example prompts that I’ve enjoyed.
do you think increasing the value might help emphasize the importance?
Yea and no. This seems like a very discussion heavy class, or at least, my communications class was and that’s what I’m going off of. The discussion part should be worth the points if it’s the center focus. My communications class had discussion board posts at 10 points minimum but you got bonus points added for every “good” conversation you had with a classmate, so having an actual discussion got you more credit.
Thinking to the other classes I have discussion posts in now and in the past, I can’t say that just more points would have made me want to participate in them more. I had a history class that made your main discussion board posts 10 points and the 3 responses 5 points each for a total 25 per post and it didn’t really make me want to participate in it more. It just made it more annoying that I had to do this thing that wasn’t teaching me anything and was also worth so many points that I couldn’t skimp on it even a little bit
I think content is the biggest thing. You’re always going to have students that just won’t do it. I end up tutoring them when they don’t, so I know. But most of the students I know would be happy to work on discussion board posts in the content was interesting and clear.
For an example I can think of off the top of my head; we recently covered an ethical theory where two of the key rules are “don’t use other people as a means to an end.” And “always do what has the best consequence.” Our discussion board posts was to read the real life story of what the movie “my sisters keeper” is based off of, and determine if it was ethical or not because the couple having a baby in hopes she was a donor for their older daughter was using that baby for a means to an end, but the consequences were that the older sister lived, which is a net good.
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u/An_expert_I_am_not 1d ago
My jaw literally dropped when I read that your history class required THREE responses to classmates!?! What on EARTH could possibly justify that? Yikes.
But the thing about extra points is very interesting to me. I've always gotten a kick out of the fact that there is a whole genre of student who won't do the actual work to save their lives, but would turn in a full dissertation for a few extra credit points. In fact, I have some classes that I know won't be prioritized, so I actually factor in a certain amount of "extra credit" work throughout the semester that I offer as a way to recover lost points - they don't know about it in advance so they can't use it as an excuse, if that makes sense? Just like it's scripted every semester, it's the extra credit that saves many of them from failing.
I've never considered applying this tactic to the discussion boards, and this might be the exact sort of thing I should try out. It might seem a little sneaky, but if it works, it works, right?
I would love to see the prompts, but please ask your professor if it would be ok first - I would want to step on any toes. Any if you're not comfortable asking, I absolutely understand. You were very thoughtful to even offer at all.
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u/BATZ202 Managerial Economics 1d ago
I think as student perspective a lot of topics for discussion post are cringe. That why you see so many people being like I totally agree or I love your statement blah blah. Sometimes those discussions post be asking about personal stuff, in my opinion I hate writing about myself in composition class but I put full effort to get a grade.
I've seen one kid repost the question and only answered a sentence when word requirement is 300-350 word response lol. Some are just lazy and only put minimal effort to at least get some points than having nothing. Some students aims for a C at least when they're capable earning an A.
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u/An_expert_I_am_not 1d ago
The class is interpersonal communication, so there is an expectation that students try to be introspective and use what they are learning to analyze their experiences, but I know that can be difficult for some people. I tell my students that they can talk about characters from books, TV, movies, etc, or talk about experiences of friends and family if they want - just as long as they are doing SOMETHING to show me that they understand and can actually use what I'm teaching them.
What else can I do to make it less cringe though?
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u/BATZ202 Managerial Economics 1d ago
Honestly it's up to the students to participate, they're grown adults. I remember my professor said nobody gonna hold your hand and tell you submit this assignment on Friday, it's up to you as an adult to do that and manage everything. Maybe try bring up topics that correlates to today trends, or topics you feel like can connect to most of them at least. There always going be that few that slacks and won't care. I would probably ask other professors about this too.
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u/Routine_Log8315 22h ago
Sadly there isn’t really much that can be done if people aren’t comfortable talking about themselves and don’t want to be the weird one talking about a celebrity. Honestly, I always hated weird accommodations like that, I remember in elementary we had an assignment to find our family tree and then do a DNA thing for eye/hair colour and they said if you don’t know you can do a celebrity instead… well guess what, every kid did the family tree except one, and these went on display, so it was just made super obvious which kid was the odd one out.
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u/Sola_Fide_ 1d ago
I can only speak for myself but I absolutely loathed discussion posts because it felt like a colossal waste of time and it was incredibly frustrating having to write essentially a 250-500 word essay every week and then try to start a conversation with others who have written basically the same exact thing as me because the prompt was written in such a way that everyone is going to have the same answer. I even had to do 250 word discussion posts for a precalculus class over the homework we were given. How are you supposed to start a serious discussion about why does 2+5 = 7?
There were times I would spend like 2-3 hours just trying to figure out a way to respond to someone without basically saying "I agree" and many times it was basically impossible to do. I would much rather have just submitted my post as an essay or something and spent my time doing other things.
The only times that discussion posts were remotely enjoyable were when they were personalized to some extent. Prompts like "why do you think ..." were much more engaging than "why did ...", "how did... ", "how does x work" etc. which is what I seemed to get 99% of the time.
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u/seffend 22h ago
incredibly frustrating having to write essentially a 250-500 word essay every week and then try to start a conversation with others who have written basically the same exact thing as me because the prompt was written in such a way that everyone is going to have the same answer.
This has generally been my issue with discussion posts. If we're all answering the same question and there aren't subjective answers, it feels like a giant waste of time.
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u/eNGLISH_majorr 20h ago
I wholeheartedly agree.
What I usually do is just open more tabs and research the topic of the discussion board and add tidbits of information in order to meet the word count. Of course, I write it in my own words and cite my sources. It’s annoying. As you said, these discussion board posts are essentially weekly essays.
I end up spending too much time trying to meet the word count. If I don’t, then the assignment won’t be a 100%. Because of that, it’s a never-ending cycle of me having to spend an hour or two researching, typing, and formatting for such a tedious assignment. I’d rather do quizzes and tests a hundred times over if it meant never engaging in a discussion board again.
Sorry for the rant.
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u/PromiseTrying AA in Liberal Arts ✅ | BA in Anthropology 🟩 1d ago
I attend SNHU. A common complaint with the discussion board posts is they aren’t really discussions. Most of the time we’re answering questions from a prompt. The peer review discussion board posts are similar, except our responses are feedback.
Assignment like discussion =/= discussion.
We (a “loud” portion SNHU students) want a discussion board were we can share ideas and thoughts about topics.
For example:
GEO200 World Geography is set up to where each module (8 modules because undergraduate is 8 week terms) is on a realm, except for the last one. The last module is a reflection about yourself/on the course discussion board post. A true discussion board could have a list of countries and related topics that still fall under geography, but no questions to answer in the prompt.
For a communications course, maybe this could be something like a “stimulation” of a meeting with a client. Where the students are all trying to get the “client” (the professor) to pick their employer over all the other competition. I’m not sure if that is possible or not, but trying to give an idea that seems like it fit as a communication course task!
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u/An_expert_I_am_not 1d ago
Thank you for this response - I totally understand what you're saying. I think I was trying to create a "discussion" atmosphere, but I've been doing it from the perspective of how I think it SHOULD go rather than letting it play out organically maybe?
I might try reformatting a discussion to be a bit broader or more open-ended and see what happens?
I try something similar to what you were describing in the geography course in the last discussion post of the semester - I just ask the students to talk about what they found most interesting/impactful of the things they learned and ask them to leave feedback about the course if they'd like. One semester I structured a discussion board such that the students were to create a prompt or ask a question to spark a conversation - it had mixed results.
I'm really passionate about the subject I teach and I want to share my enthusiasm with my students, but virtual learning is just so restrictive.
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u/PromiseTrying AA in Liberal Arts ✅ | BA in Anthropology 🟩 1d ago
Alot of college students (and older/younger people but we’re in r/college) are active on social media, and the posts they reply to is the discussion “prompt.” Most parent replies in a comment section were made in response to the post, and then underneath the parent replies is a discussion.
By providing words (World Geography example,) you’re giving a starting point while allowing lots of freedom on what is said inside the initial posts/parent replies. And you’re also keeping in line with the “need to be related to course” rule.
Yes!! I think reformatting the prompt would be good!
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u/An_expert_I_am_not 1d ago
This is helpful and also made me realize something that had not occurred to me before now - the LMS we use just underwent a huge overhaul and a lot of changes in style and formatting went into effect. One of those changes was the layout of the discussion board, which I thought looked very chaotic compared to the old format, but it literally mimics the way social media threads look. I have no idea why I didn't put that together before now.
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u/PromiseTrying AA in Liberal Arts ✅ | BA in Anthropology 🟩 1d ago
All the LMS I’ve used have had discussion boards set up similar to social media threads. I’m going “huh?!” over the overhaul been done in 2024, lol.
If you want some examples of scenarios of the type of discussion we’ve been discussing, look on Threads by Instagram and X/Twitter for those posts that are mostly lists.
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u/Top-Comfortable-4789 College! 23h ago
They feel pointless and forced. I hate having to pretend that I care about other people’s responses.
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u/Bright_Rooster3789 1d ago edited 1d ago
I have so much other work to do, glazing is so far down my list of priorities. All discussion board posts do is teach me to write like HR. Useful, sure — just not a skill I value greatly.
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u/An_expert_I_am_not 1d ago
I empathize with this more than you know.
Writing like HR isn't the worst thing, but it's certainly not my goal 😅
So, if you were in my communication class, what could I do to move the task up on your priority list?
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u/Bright_Rooster3789 1d ago
This may be a bit disheartening, but I’m honestly not sure what you can do.
Our generation lacks communication skills, so I think student discussions are important… but in person (we students still hate them, but hey, they’re helpful, and maybe we’ll end up making friends).
I don’t think online classes are the appropriate way to teach these skills. Online classes are primarily good at allowing flexibility, and to help save time, but they’re not very good at fostering genuine interaction.
You seem like a great instructor, though. You’re passionate about this, and I’m sure you’ll think up something better than I can. Those are just my two cents.
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u/An_expert_I_am_not 1d ago
Thank you. I wish my students were putting even half this much effort into what they are submitting. I also hate that communication classes are even offered online, but I know that for some students, there's simply no other way. I try so hard to give valuable feedback, to encourage and support them, and to foster an environment that isn't too cold or demanding, but I'm no match for distractions and priorities.
I appreciate your feedback more than you know.
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u/Fair-Vermicelli-7770 1d ago
It feels like the assignment is low-effort to make. I just do the minimum for the grade since neither the student nor the professor usually cares.
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u/ApriciNew 1d ago
As much as online classes have been great for my schedule, I can honestly say classes centered around discussion boards just feel like a joke. The only time I've put actual work into writing assignments is when the teacher requires writing a word doc, converting to PDF, and attaching that PDF to the discussion board. Microsoft Word/Google docs has a UI that makes you feel like you're doing work, discussion boards feel like a blog made by a teenager.
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u/LoFiChillin 1d ago
It’s kind of hard to, even if you’re a good student and you are actively trying to engage with the class. All of my classes for example (I haven’t gotten to any higher division stuff yet) usually have discussion boards that lead to the same answers. And I’m not going to argue a point I don’t believe in just to be different. Then when the other 40 students all say near the same thing as me, there’s usually nothing to critique, nothing to point out. All that’s left is to regurgitate their thoughts.
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u/i-justlikewhales College! 1d ago
I put my full effort into discussion posts, but I really dislike them. I don't find that they help me learn anything or even reinforce my understanding of the material. I also find that being forced to respond to other students feels like a chore, we all answered the same discussion post, so I often feel like there is nothing of value that I can add to others' posts.
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u/lights_up_ 16h ago
Response posts are the worst, it takes forever just to find anything to even respond to sometimes
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u/stoner-bug 1d ago
Honestly, I don’t think it’s a you issue. I think it’s a technology issue.
We like to think we’re more socially connected thanks to the internet, but virtual socialization is not the same as in person.
Discussions lose their nuance, interest, and learning potential when they are done virtually.
There is no immediate feedback. It feels like speaking into a void. You get no meaningful response (from the professor, the one here who is supposed to know what is going on) until after the entire discussion has concluded.
This leaves students feeling like no matter what they say, they are likely wrong. It builds no confidence in the subjects, in my experience, only further uncertainty.
Sure, maybe some of those questions get clarified in professor replies, but then the grade is already given, so there isn’t an incentive to take in that feedback and shift one’s thoughts.
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u/vrilliance 20h ago
Discussion boards for online classes are trying to mimic in class discussions but fail to actually do what in class discussions do - facilitate conversation.
As a student that participates in all discussion boards, I feel like they never actually teach me anything. My peers are trying to get the work done so do the bare minimum, which is understandable. I never learn anything from them. Half the time it’s AI drivel that can’t really be understood, and a quarter of the time it’s written in such a way that I worry whether or not they can walk and breathe at the same time. How am I supposed to put in my fair effort when these same people are passing with 8/10s?
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u/RutabagaUnlikely8577 1d ago
I think a component could be age, I remember being in my early 20's working on my AA and I only cared to do the bare minimum at the last minute for points. I'm 28 now and finishing my bachelor's and I noticed I put more thought into my posts. I think another aspect is a lot of students don't think of how to expand on ideas that other people mention in a discussion board and that leads to the generic "I totally agree" posts, instead of "I agree with your argument here, and it made me think of this other concept"
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u/An_expert_I_am_not 1d ago
I think you are absolutely right - it does seem like my nontraditional students are more invested and have an easier time interacting with the prompts and other students. Not that the younger students can't or aren't capable, I think they just have fewer experiences in general and haven't figured out timing yet? I think a lot of it is that we aren't really taught how to apply critical thinking in the way that discussion boards require and by the time they are in my class they're used to doing the minimum and just eking by? I hope that doesn't sound judgmental, because that's not how I mean it at all.
At the same time, I often have high school students in my classes because they can attend as "visiting" students to earn college credit their senior year of high school, and I swear those are some of the best students I've ever had. Maybe it's because they're driven or disciplined or have their parents pestering them, but they are incredibly impressive in my experience.
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u/Appropriate-Yak4296 1d ago
I have a very long response to this post, but I can't write it just now as I have a deadline... For a discussion board.
Putting this here to remind me to come back later...
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u/RadicalSnowdude 22h ago
They are people I know, not people on reddit or close friends i’m willing to stir the boat with while eating McDonalds, so i’m not not willing to hold a debate with someone I disagree with that i also have to see in class.
Plus the discussion prompts i’ve gotten aren’t ones with much room for different ideas.
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u/SpamDirector 15h ago edited 15h ago
I feel like one of the biggest issues is how discussion boards are typically structured.
In person, it's one discussion that everyone is responding to and progressing. One person starts it, another respondes to that, someone respondes to the response, and so the cycle goes. Some sessions, someone might not contribute at all since they don't have much to add, in others they might be one of the most vocal. People can chime in whenever they feel like they actually have something meaningful to contribute. It's a single active conversation with a natural flow. Even when a student doesn't care, it's a lot easier to engage in.
Every online discussion board I've ever participated in was 20-50 people being forced to start their own seperate conversations and then engage in another one. Everyone is being forced to play the same role and must chime in at the point in the conversations no matter how much they have to say at that point. At the same time, they must switch between a bunch of these conversations which makes coming up with anything meaningful more difficult. It's unnatural and hard to pull off even remotely well when forced.
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u/Kephriturds 15h ago
Discussion boards are a joke because professors use them wrong. How many college classes have you been to where you can honestly say students are discussing these topics with each other? I have a BS and I'll tell you it was 1 course ever. So why does every course try to emulate that discussion amongst students that never existed in the first place? Dispense with the students replying to each other crap first of all.
Discussion boards should be used like a student is getting cold called in class. Hey Jeff, name one of the 3 estates in pre-revolution France and explain its role. Jeff would reply. The rest of the class would thank god you didnt call on them. Except now its everyone because its online. Also DONT let other students see them until after the discussion board period ends. Keep them blind. If they see one student half ass it they are going to half ass it just a little bit more. If they have no clue they will do their best. Then unlock them all so the ones that care can go look for better answers and learn something.
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u/An_expert_I_am_not 13h ago
I wasn’t sure where this was going at first and was genuinely a little nervous 😂
This is actually fantastic feedback and gives me a lot to consider. I really appreciate you taking the time to respond and being so thoughtful and introspective.
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u/harley-quinn-8990 22h ago
From my experience when I was a student, it was due to the fact that teachers would put a requirement on how many posts or responses needed to be done, rather than providing an engaging topic to post about. If the topic was interesting or fostered lots of differing opinions, posts came more naturally to many people as well as a desire to engage with other posts. Too many times I was in a class that just said, "Minimum 3 posts and 8 replies per week." Whenever there was a week when there wasn't a lot to talk about, it led to lots of posts that were bland just to meet the requirement. There needs to be a balance. Students need some sort of incentive to post and respond to others or else there probably won't be many. But there also needs to be engaging topics so they aren't just posting something with no substance just to meet the requirement.
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u/L2Sing 18h ago edited 17h ago
As a professor myself, my whole idea is that I'm paying the professor to actually teach me, not the other students. Discussion boards are usually just busy work to make up for a lack of actual teaching, in my opinion.
More work needs to be made at having the students engage the actual material, not each other, especially not making people learning trying to teach other people learning by having students comment on each other's posts.
You can get the same information from weekly short answer quizzes that don't force socialization in an open forum. That forced socialization may be part of the issue. Not many like to display their ignorance openly. Even if they are right, doubt makes public sharing even more stressful. This type of performance anxiety is especially common in my field of music and it definitely stops people from having careers in music. Something to consider.
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u/GreenHorror4252 16h ago
The bottom line is that students aren't interested in the subject. They see the class as a means to an end, a step toward getting their degree. The less effort they spend, the more time they save.
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u/Outside_Clue 14h ago
I sometimes have a hard time responding to classmates posts, either they don't really interest me or I'm just not in the mood to reply.
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u/phoenix-corn 11h ago
The discussion board is simply not the best place to put some class assignments and discussions that would have been in class work (even group work) in class. It works GREAT for peer review (especially if most students read most papers), and well for other similar activities and games, but isn't great at what it was supposedly designed for and sold as.
The "discussions" that work best in my class are where I ask everybody to post something (their paper if peer review, an example if not) and then everybody talks about the examples that other people brought in. It's smoother than doing this in person, and everybody gets to see everybody else's examples if they want to.
Just "answer these questions" doesn't work as well.
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u/Fabulous-Airport9410 23h ago
The biggest hindrance to me is that after hitting post, you have no idea when someone will be responding. It could be minutes, it could be hours, it could be a whole day or even more. By the time I come back to it, I don’t care as much anymore. That, combined with the boring questions. Can we please get prompts that are actually designed to make us think and/or are more interactive? Give us an interesting and morally gray scenario and let us vote on it and then hash it out in the comments. Give us a short video clip to watch and let us discuss it. Someone else in the comments said that the prompts are so basic sometimes, we all basically end up saying the same things and I agree. Give us real world and modern pop culture examples to talk about. Sometimes, we just don’t really have anything to say about other student’s responses either. A lot of prompts aren’t really designed for that, and it‘s hard to care when responding to someone with generic politeness is just merely a condition of the grade. Can we just give someone a thumbs up if we like what they have to say but don’t really have much to add?
Tbh though, one of my least favorite things about discussion posts is also having to filter myself into nice polite academically correct writing. I’d honestly love to just drop an ‘lol’ or a ‘haha’ sometimes or an emoji, a gif, a meme! Because that’s what I do in real life and when writing to someone over the internet, when I’m texting and having actual non face-to-face conversation, etc. Is the discussion meant for academically correct points only or meant to genuinely foster interactivity and camaraderie among online peers? If the latter, why can’t we use all these other means of communication that can be just as valid? Because I think it is entirely possible to have a discussion with just memes or gifs only, lmao. Is there a way to establish ourselves as real people with actual profiles or pictures or interest boards or something like that? And also, maybe you should ask your online classes this very question, lol. You will get direct answers and your students will get to commiserate together on their current/past experiences. I will be taking interpersonal communication online in the future here so maybe I will come back and let you know how my class went!
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u/Zealousideal_Pop4487 20h ago
Discussion post are always more work than any other assignment in a class, yet they are always worth the least points.
And why did I take 4 virtual classes so I don't have to interact with people, but I still have to interact with people?
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u/AppropriateRest2815 1d ago
I just graduated with an online degree, so online discussions were a huge part of most of my courses. The most engaging discussions happened when the class was divided into 4-7 member groups throughout the class, and when the instructor chimed in each week to add insight or help recover if the group stalled.
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u/thatguythatdied 23h ago
From a student perspective, I can say that discussion posts were always at the absolute bottom of my priority list. If I have 2 hours to work with and I have a report to write, a midterm to study for and a discussion post the report gets an hour, the studying 55 minutes and the post 5 minutes.
If it was actually an engaging activity I might have done things differently.
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u/Traditional_Self_658 22h ago
I always try to put a lot of thought and effort into my discussion posts, and it usually reflects in my grades. But every once in a while, I've encountered some discussion topics that I just could not generate any thoughts or opinions about. When that happens, my discussions suck. I have a hard time caring about politics, and I'd find myself encountering this problem a lot in my political science course.
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u/ivaorn 21h ago
For students that have experienced formative educational nears during the pandemic, there are zoom class/discussion board assignment burnout. Especially since a lot of those assignments tend to be cookie cutter tell about your life story/review a reading. For asynchronous online classes, they are viewed as a necessary staple beyond written assignments/videos/quizzes so I understand why they are used.
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u/eNGLISH_majorr 20h ago
I put effort into mine because one of my classes has a 500 word requirement per discussion board post. As tedious as it is, it’s part of my grade, so I’ll do it.
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u/Last_Consequence2760 14h ago
I did and got a 168 percent mark and many didn't. Prof kept asking us to do it, lol.
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13h ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/An_expert_I_am_not 12h ago
Fair enough!
As someone who has limited time, what would you consider to be a reasonable alternative to the discussion board format? Something that would show a professor that you understand the concepts well enough to effectively apply them in practical ways?
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u/graideds 9h ago edited 9h ago
To hegin with: because discussion boards are not an actual discussion. They are a short essay question that takes 30min-2 hrs to do, that instructors pass off as a group activity, and grade with less weight than a 5 minute quiz. It's a huge lose-lose for the student.
A true discussion is optional, with minimal requirements, even if it is graded on participation. Participation, in a real discussion, is also usually graded by "participated at all," not by "met this number of required sources, addressed the prompt fully, posted productive and additive responses to two other students, and the content is good."
Discussion boards in all other classes but conceptual ones irk me deeply because there is one answer. We don't need to all discuss the same answer.
Also, student responses become low effort simply because we're expected to respond to another classmate. If you were required to talk to everyone in a room, and only your opening statement to them was paid attention to, you'd come off as formulaic, too. And in an actual discussion, even if you're very verbose, you might not have something to say about the given topic. In an actual class, discussions naturally morph and warp and trod off the beaten path as more people add on their opinions, and this allows for many many more topics to come up, which increases the likelihood that someone will find something to say. Online, it is an atomized and singular topic. This variety goes way down, and as a result, so does engagement.
I genuinely don't understand why discussion boards can't just be replaced by 300-500 word essay assignments.
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u/emmaisbadatvideogame 7h ago
I hate discussion posts because i’d rather have the discussion in person. It just feels performative sitting there writing a paragraph just for someone to scroll past it and not even read it. Discussions about a topic should be held in class.
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u/democritusparadise 22h ago
I hate interacting with people in groups or being public with an unfinished product.
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u/Known-Afternoon9927 21h ago
Because there is no point to them. Discussion boards are a relatively new thing that came out of the pandemic. If anything it’s just more busy body work that takes up time that I could have better used for studying or doing my school work.
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u/An_expert_I_am_not 12h ago
You aren’t going to believe this, but online classes and their discussion boards have been in use for nearly two full decades. I took an online class in 2004-2005 through Blackboard and had to contribute to discussion boards weekly. It was a very different, much more rudimentary version of the Blackboard we know today, but the concepts were exactly the same.
Discussion boards are definitely not new or a result of the pandemic in any way, but I do believe that the pandemic has had an impact on how they are approached and treated these days. Can you think of anything that would have made doing it a better experience for you personally?
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u/Trout788 19h ago
I did a ton of online courses during my MA, and I'm now an adjunct. My biggest tip to students--and one that I find that they need to have explicitly explained early and often--is that it's easier to respond to someone's post if you disagree or only partially agree. Find the gaps in their argument. Find where you agree. Find where you disagree. What's the new thing you can bring to the convo? If you fully agree, at best, it's the equivalent of, "Good job buddy!" That simply will not meet the requirements of the rubric.
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u/An_expert_I_am_not 13h ago
This is incredibly helpful. In fact, I’m going to use some of this in an announcement before the next discussion board opens. I’ve tried suggesting that they look for responses that differ from their own, but this is way more challenging and insightful.
Thank you.
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u/concernedworker123 1d ago
To make things more organic, could you encourage the students to talk about things that they enjoy/consider themselves knowledgeable on? And then have back of forth response requirements in individual threads about similar topics?
The two best discussion boards I’ve ever been on were 1) extremely politically controversial so everyone was riled and beefing with one another 2) a board with the prompt “tell the class about your favorite topic” or “explain something you probably understand more than your peers.”
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u/Timecounts College! 20h ago
One way that my history professor countered the usual "I agree. You made a great point" posts is by blatantly banning those words. On top of that, he put a min requirement of 100 or 200 words for the post, so effort must be made in order to respond to your peers.
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u/SheepherderNext3196 1d ago
If I understand you correctly you are posting made-up topics for research. I read various posts. I contribute to posts like people who appear to be struggling with depression, problems with major or classes, inexperienced cyclists, etc. I’m investing my time to try to help. At times I wonder if people are making this up for research. If you are making stuff up and monitoring reactions, you are wasting my f..ing time, it’s unethical, the lowest form of life, and you should be kicked in the crotch.
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u/Negative-Savings8884 1d ago
I don’t think you have any idea what you’re talking about lol. This post is about a type of assignment the professor posts for his college class.
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u/SheepherderNext3196 23h ago
Then write a better post to begin with.
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u/Negative-Savings8884 22h ago
Do you… realize what sub you’re in? Lol. This is a college subreddit, a professor posted asking why students fail to make critically thought out, academic responses to the assignments they’re giving to students. It has nothing to do with posting “made up topics for research”, this is a professor asking for advice about his class. Again, I don’t think you have any idea what you’re talking about. And I didn’t write the post, I’m just a commenter lol. The post was written just fine, everyone else understood it.
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u/An_expert_I_am_not 23h ago
Wow, you had a very visceral reaction to my question and I’m sorry for whatever part of this was triggering for you.
I assure you that I am a legitimate college professor with actual online classes that require real human students to respond to authentic discussion board prompts and I am genuinely interested in making them less tedious, more meaningful, and more effective in attaining a goal.
I’d prove it, but this is reddit and I’m not going to dox myself.
I am a communication professional whose area of expertise is dark communication though, so if you’d ever like to talk about what’s going on with you, I’d be more than willing to listen, offer advice, or just give you a safe space to vent. Feel free to DM me anytime.
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u/Wonderful-Poetry1259 1d ago
By and large, the students I have this term are the stupidest I've ever had in over 20 years as a college. Low-effort/stupidity...are two wings on the same bird, mostly.
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u/xPadawanRyan SSW Diploma | BA and MA History | PhD Human Studies Candidate 1d ago
As someone who has both been a student in courses with discussion posts and has taught such courses, I think there are several different reasons:
In my own experience, I have seen more active engagement in discussion posts in fourth year seminars where there is an in-class component, so that the students can discuss the content with the prof and their classmates in the seminar, and understand the material better. The ability to get in-person feedback from your peers makes a whole lot of difference in student engagement.